This Chimichurri Steak Salad is the perfect summer dinner salad. Grilled flank steak, summer vegetables, pickled onions and feta are tossed with a tangy, delicious chimichurri vinaigrette. Best of all, we make the dressing in a blender so there's no chopping or time-intensive prep involved. This is the kind of salad that will have the whole family going back for seconds!
Chimichurri Made Easy
This might be my favorite salad dressing of all-time. And it all started because chimichurri, delicious as it may be, is a bit time-consuming to whip up, with a lot of parsley and garlic chopping involved.
We made the decision one night to just make it in the blender and add a few extra ingredients to turn it into a dressing.
The end result is herbaceous, slightly spicy, well-rounded and completely delicious. It's perfect as a standalone sauce for steak or chicken or as a salad dressing. It's even great just with roasted vegetables! This is a recipe I'm going to be making again and again all summer long.
If you're looking for some more summer salads to enjoy, try our Watermelon Fruit Salad or this Blackberry, Avocado and Arugula Salad.
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Key Ingredients Needed for this Chimichurri Steak Salad
- Flat leaf parsley: You can also use curly leaf or cilantro if that's all you have on hand.
- Flank steak: We used flank steak in this recipe, but you can use your favorite cut instead.
- Arugula: We use arugula as the base of the salad, but you could use romaine, kale, or spinach instead.
How to Make this Chimichurri Steak Salad
- 30 minutes prior to making your salad, remove your steak from the refrigerator, pat dry, and season liberally with salt and pepper. If you're making the pickled red onions at home, follow our quick pickled red onions recipe.
- To a blender or food processor, add the parsley, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and Dijon and blend until smooth. Set aside for the flavors to meld.
- While the dressing sits, add the steak and corn to a grill over medium heat (400˚F - 450˚F) and grill for 4-6 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 128-130˚F.
- To a large plate or serving bowl, add the arugula, steak (sliced thinly), corn, avocado, sweety drop peppers, feta cheese, and pickled red onion.
- Drizzle chimichurri dressing over the salad, toss, and enjoy!
Top Tips from the CK Test Kitchen!
- Letting the chimichurri sit after blending allows the garlic to mellow and infuses the oil and vinegar, and allows the oregano and red pepper flakes to rehydrate and soften.
- Using a high-quality olive oil will really improve the flavor of your dressing.
- If you want to make this salad vegetarian, replace the steak with tofu or simply leave out the steak.
- For an in-depth tutorial on how we make our pickled red onions, check out our quick pickled red onions recipe.
- Storage: If you're planning on making this in advance, prepare the dressing then refrigerate it to use later. It will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days. We'd also recommend grilling the steak and corn and refrigerating those. When you're ready to serve, cut up your avocado, pickled red onions, and tomatoes, assemble your salad, and enjoy.
More Summer Salad Recipes You'll Love
We can't wait for you to make this chimichurri steak salad in your own home! If you do, be sure to let us know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo and tag @crowded_kitchen on Instagram. We can't wait to see what you're cooking!
Recipe
Chimichurri Steak Salad
Ingredients
Method
- 30 minutes prior to making your salad, remove your steak from the refrigerator, pat dry, and season liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. If you're making the pickled red onions at home, follow our quick pickled red onions recipe.
- To a blender or food processor, add the parsley, garlic, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, and Dijon and blend until smooth. Set aside for the flavors to meld.
- While the dressing sits, add the steak and corn to a grill over medium-high heat (400˚F - 450˚F). Grill the steak for 4-6 minutes on each side, until the internal temperature reaches 128-130˚F. Grill the corn for about 10 minutes, turning every few minutes.
- Remove the steak from the grill and cover with aluminum foil to let it rest for 10 minutes. Slice the steak thinly against the grain. Cut the corn kernels off the cob once they're cool enough to handle.
- To a large plate or serving bowl, add the arugula, steak, corn, avocado, tomatoes, sweety drop peppers, feta cheese, and pickled red onion.
- Drizzle chimichurri dressing over the salad, toss, and enjoy!
Rachel says
Amazing salad. Will become a regular recipe in our house!
Lexi Harrison says
Yay, I love to hear that!